Request for Comment on Statement by Commissioner Hester M. Peirce
SIFMA and SIFMA AMG provided comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to the recent Statement…
July 1. 2021
Uniform Law Commission
111 N. Wabash Ave
Suite 1010
Chicago, IL 60602
RE: Collection and Use of Personally Identifiable Data
Dear Commissioners:
While we appreciate the Commission’s attempt to craft model privacy legislation that grants citizens robust privacy rights, the undersigned organizations have serious concerns about the ability of state legislatures to enact the proposal due to enforcement provisions already rejected by some states.
Although we believe that Congress should ultimately pass national privacy legislation, it is crucial that any uniform state privacy bill promotes harmonization. Despite many laudable improvements to the substance of the draft before the Commission, the proposed Uniform Personal Data Protection Act (“UDPA”) discourages uniformity through its enforcement provisions.
The enforcement provisions of Section 16 of UDPA state that “[a] knowing violation of this [act] is subject to all remedies, penalties, and authority granted by [cite to state consumer protection act].” Although the proposed model language does not explicitly grant aggrieved parties a private right of action (“PRA”), referencing the use of “all remedies” under state consumer protection statutes would open the door to PRAs. Twenty-two states have broad unfair and deceptive trade practices/consumer protection statues that enable a PRA.